Page 3 of Ashes of Honor
“Shut up,” I mumbled, fumbling with the clunk of metal. “I need to focus.”
“Or you could pay attention to the hundreds of fires The Compound needs you to put out.”
“I can multitask,” I huffed, blowing a stray strand of my choppy hair out of my face. A quick but mighty spark had me jumping back in my chair. “Dang it!”
The sleek titanium and carbon-fiber arm seized at the elbow, and Abel’s fingers went limp. Rubber padded against the hard wood paneling as the stress ball he’d been holding fell. At this point, any attempt at gripping things or a bit too much strain had the arm breaking in one way or another. Abel couldn’t just haveanyarm, he needed something that did the impossible.
If I could get it to respond directly to his neural signals, it’d be like he never lost 60 percent of the use of his arm at all. Henry had done his best after Malachai sliced through it, but in the mix of all the drama and the time it’d taken to get it back from Riley … this was as best as best could get. Only a miracle could give him full function back without a little innovation. Granted, it had only been a few days of work and the help of Moe’s limited yet helpful visions. I took a few centering breaths.Meditation won’t help ya now, girl. Sighing, I rubbed my temples as though circulating the blood in my brain would produce a quality idea.
Abel’s warm right hand fell atop mine. His thumb rubbed a calming pattern over my clammy skin. “It’s cool. As thrilled as I am that you care enough to do all this … You’ve been at it for weeks. I’ll still be broken tomorrow.”
I pulled away, yanking my elastic band out of my hair and frantically trying to get it back up and out of my face.I really should have thought about this before cutting it all off.“Yeah, well, Abel darling. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Not in this family. And you’re not broken.”
“Then stop trying to fix me like I am.” There was a strain in his voice as he freed himself from the bionic arm. Cerulean streams of electricity danced in the air, flickering ghostly veins that were eager to find a body to connect with.
“I want to make sure you have every advantage possible out there. Is it a crime to not want to mourn the loss of another member of my diminishing family?”
Abel exhaled sharply, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face before it settled into open disgust. “Okay. I’m out. Enough with the pity party.” He shoved away from the table and rose, towering over me. “It’s unbecoming. And frankly, it ruins your charm.” He bent to plant a quick kiss on my forehead before striding off, his left arm hanging at his side.
Abel was a jokester. No matter the circumstances, he could always find something to say that lightened the gravity of whatever crazy situation we were in. It was why I loved having him around. Even though he had been the one to lose a part of himself, he’d been the calming force against all our friends’ anger. But right now, he wasn’t joking. And I wasn’t sure if that should humble me or not.
I groaned, sliding everything that cluttered the table onto the ground.
The hair on the back of my neck trickled in warning and I stiffened my posture. “Forget something?” I asked Abel, not wanting to see the stare of disappointment on his face at my loss of control. The disgust seeping off him when he looked at me on the way out was more than enough for today.
“Uh, no.” A penetrating voice pierced the air. It was deep. One of those voices that vibrated against your ribs when they spoke. “I was actually searching for Alexiares.”
“Why would Amaia’s lap dog be in my lab?” I slammed, turning around to see who could have been so completely lost they’d winded up here. Alexiares hadn’t been allowed back in here since he stole my good surgical tools to torture some poor soul. My eyes went wide. “Oh, wow. You’re?—”
“Tiago’s brother, Tomás. Yep.”
Sadness hit me. Some from him, an overwhelming wave of loss and heartache coming straight from his soul, but mostly, my own. Alexiares had mentioned Tomás was a spitting image of his late friend. His only friend before he showed up, quite honestly—tough guy to love until you dugreallydeep.
Twins were such a funny force of nature. The way they challenged our core understanding of basic human things, like individuality or connection. Whether they were identical or fraternal, there was that telepathic bond that existed, no matter the distance between them.
“Uh, you okay?” Tomás asked. He tilted his head, his honey-hued skin a greenish hue under the candles lighting my lab. It was raining today. Any light that may have filtered in through the windows was absorbed by the darkness of the heavy clouds.
“Yeah. Sorry, I was … thinking of my brother,” I said, the words mute as I thought not of Seth, but Hunter. What could have been if only he’d survived.
“Seth … right.” He whistled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his tan chinos. “I should go. Sorry for bothering. We were supposed to meet out in the courtyard, but he never showed. Some guy named Henry said you might know where he is.”
“Yes, because I keep a tracker on all my hounds.” The sass found its way back to my voice.
Tomás released another long, drawn out whistle. “Anyway. Nice meeting you, I guess. Kinda. Not really.”
He made it to the door before I noticed his slightly uneven gait. I sucked in a gasp at the sliver of metal shining right at the base of his ankle.
“Hey, wait.” I called out, striding over to him. “Did you make that yourself?”
“My leg?” he questioned, arching a brow that had a long healed cut down the center. “No. I grew it in The Gardens.”
Curiosity overpowered the rationalization of acting like I had some home training. I crouched, tugging up the hem of his pants without thinking—a sleek, beautifully crafted piece of machinery stared back at me. Its design both intricate and practical. I chuckled, “You’re pretty funny.”
“Thanks? I didn’t say much.” Tomás and I were nearly eye to eye as I rose back upright in my platform combat boots. He peered behind my shoulder through narrowed slits, then stared back at me in recognition. “That for Abel?”
I nodded. “You’ve met him?”
“Briefly, he saved my ass out there right before it all happened,” he said with a motion to his arm.
